One of the Strangest Autobot Subgroups, The Monsterbots.

If you had shown me this set without faction labels, I would swear they were Decepticons. I got the three of them from the same friend that sold me the Canadian Slag for a good price. Two out of three of them have their boxes. They are the largest of the Transformers cold sparking figures. I'm kind of surprised there isn't a Decepticon half of the set like most of the gimmicky G1s. All three were pretty rough sticker-wise, but a nice set of Reprolabels and they all look like new.

First up we have Grotusque, what he turns into is anyone's guess, a flying gerbil? Who knows. When the button on the back of his neck is pressed, the lower jaw moves and sparks come out of his mouth. He is the only one of the three who's handgun stores in monster mode.

I'm pretty impressed with his transformation, there's a couple tricks I wouldn't have thought would be on it, Like the way the legs open up to fit the tails inside, or how the torso and hips move.

With his box, I really like the artwork on it. I've been thinking of getting the third box for them so at least I have the set. Maybe later. I was given his box at a toy show.

Repugnus is a strange looking bug like thing. Again, not sure what it is. When you push the button on the top of the head, the sparks shoot out of the mouth and the pincers on his face move in and out.

The way his legs transform is kinda neat with the thighs of the monster sliding down to cover the bug like shins, exposing blocky thighs. The head sculpt though, not really a fan lol

His box came with him. It's not in the best shape, but I don't really collect US boxes as much. I don't know why, just haven't felt like searching them out. Most of the boxes I have for them are in my closet since I don't have room to display them all. 

Lastly, we have Doublecross. He turns into a two headed dragon. Easily my favorite of the three. When you push the button in the middle of his back, the blades on his chest move and sparks come out between his heads. The heads are very articulated. with two separate up and down joints, plus the swivel at the base and opening jaws, 

Transformation on him is pretty straightforward, no surprises. The heads as hands is a neat look for him though. I don't have his box unfortunately.

A couple group shots, they do look good as a group. Diverse, but cohesive.

I know it's a less popular notion, but I really enjoy the tail end of G1's gimmicky figures like these. They didn't go all out to make the entire line based around a gimmick, but instead made a few figures that benefited from a certain gimmick. I think that's why I enjoy them. It's not overused.